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SDG 10

Children of a dying race: the development story and governing through race
26 November 2012
University of Sydney

McCallum, David

Late 19th century interest in new ideas about governing children, combined with the category of race as a core element of state formation, led to new interventions around children’s rights and limits to children’s life trajectories. This paper surveys public representations of early 20th century understandings of the ‘Aboriginal problem’ and notions of a ‘dying race’, and argues that this intellectual production underpins bio-political powers over the management and even continuance of the life of the child.
Academic Language, Power and the Impact of Western Knowledge Production on Indigenous Student Learning
02 January 2014
University of Sydney

Karen, O'Brien

This paper explores the prescriptive, distancing and separating qualities that exist in western systems of knowledge production. It examines scientific language and how discrimination takes place in the university setting and explores the ways in which academic knowledge production affects the learning experiences, participation and completion rates of Indigenous students. It suggests improving teaching and learning strategies; to enhance unacknowledged learning processes towards providing inclusive learning practices; and to strengthen educational outcomes for Indigenous students with the prospect of improving their completion rates at Universities.
Racially-conditional donation: The example of umbilical cord blood
23 June 2014
University of Sydney

Komesaroff, P;Kerridge, I;Steward, C;Samuel, G;Lipworth, W;Jordens, C

While direction of donated tissue to family members has long been accepted, direction to members of specific racial groups has been opposed, on the basis that it is discriminatory and contrary to the ethos the institution of organ donation seeks to promote. It has, however, recently been proposed that racially conditional donation may provide a useful--and ethically acceptable--way to address the social inequalities and injustices experienced by certain cultural groups. This article examines the ethical, legal and cultural arguments for and against racially conditional donation, concluding that the practice is more likely to undermine the values of equity and justice than to promote them and that it may also lead to other unfavourable personal and social outcomes.
What is it like to be a doctor in immigration detention centres?
09 June 2015
University of Sydney

Chan, A;Kerridge, I

I am often asked questions about my work as a general practitioner in the Christmas Island and Nauru immigration detention centres. Are the conditions as bad as they say? Is the health care adequate? Are they genuine refugees? What are the people like? I often don’t know what to say, and wonder whether my answers are ever sufficient. Words often seem inadequate to describe what I saw, or the ways in which my experience continues to impact upon me. Are the conditions bad? Absolutely. Imagine tents at a grungy music festival, but without the festivity and enclosed by wire. Imagine a world that has a 500m radius and is characterized by bleakness and oppressive humidity. And then imagine living there, for months on end, with no purpose or direction, unable to leave and not being told if you ever will. Is the health care adequate? Definitely not. But arguably this is impossible to provide in such remote and underdeveloped centres, where the primary purpose is not health but segregation and isolation. Are they genuine refugees? I have no idea because I never asked, and as a doctor who sat beside Ahmed, or Leila, or Antony I didn’t really need to know. So what are “they” like? And what is it like to be their doctor? As a practitioner working in a detention centre you see many shocking departures from the ordinary – men with their lips sewn closed with thread from a blanket, women drinking from bottles of shampoo, children with weeping sores and no shoes, people hurting themselves to express their pain. In each case you try and do what you can to treat both the physical consequences of living in harsh environments and the mental anguish caused by losing hope.
Eligibility, the ICF and the UN Convention: Australian perspectives
15 July 2015
University of Sydney

Madden, Rosamond H;Glozier, Nick;Mpofu, Elias

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in Australia, acts as a philosophical and moral statement and framework guiding integrated and strategic policy across the nation. Broad policy agreement has been reached by governments, and both the government and non-government sectors are developing strategies for implementation or evaluation. There is however a need for a more integrated approach to disability policy and information, reflecting all three components of the Italian project: • legislation and a high level philosophical framework and policy guide; • a technical framework that can underpin specific policies and programs aiming to achieve the major goals; and , • a language and set of tools, relating to both the above, that provide infrastructure for assessment methods and information systems. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is the ideal tool to support the latter two components, consistent with the UN Convention. While the ICF has been used as the basis for national data standards, in population surveys and in the national data collection on disability support services, there is considerable scope for greater use of it, including using all domains of the Activities and Participation and the Environmental Factors component for policy, information and service provision, to advance a disability-inclusive society. Information available from the income support system and from generic services could be enhanced by reference to the ICF components. It would be of significant national value in Australia, especially as a ‘continuum of care’ is desired, if consistency of concepts and information were expanded across health and social welfare sectors. It would then be possible to obtain consistent data from health, aged care, disability and community services systems about key aspects of health and functioning, building a consolidated picture of access and experience across these sectors. Without attention to all three components of the Italian project and continuing effort to meet the challenges identified in this paper, it will not be possible to determine whether the goals of Australia’s National Disability Agreement or the ambitions of the Convention are achieved.
The social and cultural significance of women’s sexual identities should guide health promotion: an analysis of the Sydney Women and Sexual Health (SWASH) survey
25 August 2015
University of Sydney

Germanos, Rada;Deacon, Rachel M;Mooney-Somers, Julie

Our analysis aimed to identify the major risk behaviors and health issues for young lesbian, bisexual and queer women, and combine this with lifestyle and community engagement data to guide targeted health promotion for these groups.We conducted statistical analysis of 379 self-complete surveys from women aged 17–30 years attending lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) community events during the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival period in February 2010 and 2012. We found concerning rates of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drug use across all groups; a mental illness diagnosis and formal psychological support access were common. Queer women had the highest rates of illicit drug use, experiences of sexual coercion, and anti-LGBTQ discrimination. They were also the most proactive with their health. Bisexual women had low STI testing despite having high rates of sexual activity with both men and women. Lesbian women had the poorest uptake of Pap smears and STI testing. Findings demonstrate that meaningful sexual behavior is irrelevant for the majority of health disparities affecting sexual minority women. Meaningful engagement with contemporary sexual identities and their local social and cultural significance is essential for the development of appropriate and effective targeted public health interventions.
Where Internal and International Migration Intersect: Mobility and the Formation of Multi-Ethnic Communities in the Riau Islands Transit Zone
29 November 2016
University of Sydney

Lyons, Lenore;Ford, Michele

While migration studies scholars have paid considerable attention to internal migration within Indonesia, as well as to international labour migration flows from Indonesia, they have rarely considered the intersections between these two processes. This paper addresses the gap through a close analysis of migration flows in one of Indonesia’s key transit areas – the Riau Islands. We argue that in the borderlands the processes of internal and international migration are mutually constitutive. The Riau Islands’ status as a transit zone for international labour migrants and as a destination for internal migrants determines its demographic profile and policies of migration control. Bordering practices are strongly influenced by the fact that not everyone who comes to the Riau Islands has the intention of moving on, and not all international migrants returning to the islands intend to go home. Our analysis demonstrates that internal migration cannot be understood as a solely national phenomenon, and that international migration cannot only be explained by push and pull factors in sending and receiving destinations. These complexities necessitate research and policy responses that take into account the unique character of the transit provinces, and the role that their geographical location plays in the formation of multi-ethnic communities and the management of migration.
Regulatory Approaches to Managing Skilled Migration: Indonesian Nurses in Japan
03 January 2017
University of Sydney

Ford, Michele;Kawashima, Kumiko

This article examines the Japan–Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement, an agreement that has allowed Japan to supplement its local healthcare workforce while continuing to sidestep the thorny issue of labour and immigration policy reform and Indonesia to increase its skilled workers’ access to the Japanese labour market at a time when it was making a concerted effort to reorient migrant labour flows away from informal sector occupations. Despite the programme’s many problems, it has contributed to the use of trade agreements as a mechanism for regulating labour migration, and so to the normalisation of migrant labour as a tradable commodity rather than a discrete area of policy-making, with all the attendant risks that normalisation brings.
The Borders Within: Mobility and Enclosure in the Riau Islands
03 January 2017
University of Sydney

Ford, Michele;Lyons, Lenore

The border studies literature makes a strong case against claims for unfettered transnationalism and ‘borderlessness’ in our ‘globalising world’. However, its focus on movement across borders means that it fails to address bordering practices that occur within the nation-state as a result of transnational activity. In this paper, we extend Cunningham and Heyman’s concepts ‘enclosure’ and ‘mobility’ to confront the different layers of bordering (both physical and nonphysical) that have occurred in Indonesia’s Riau Islands since they became part of the Indonesia– Malaysia–Singapore Growth Triangle.
Outsourcing Border Security: NGO Involvement in the Monitoring, Processing and Assistance of Indonesian Nationals Returning Illegally by Sea
05 January 2017
University of Sydney

Ford, Michele;Lyons, Lenore

Since the signing of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the Straits of Malacca have been identified as a “hot spot” for whole range of maritime security threats, including human trafficking and people smuggling. As a consequence, Indonesia’s national and local authorities have been under immense pressure from the international community to develop and implement programmes that address these concerns. Multilateral agencies and other donor organizations have also pumped millions of dollars into counter-trafficking and anti-smuggling programmes in the Riau Islands. Much of the groundwork for both government and international initiatives is done by NGOs, most of which work to identify and assist repatriated migrant workers or victims of trafficking. In one case, however, a Batam-based NGO has gone far beyond this well-trodden path, developing a system to apprehend undocumented labour migrants who use the services of people smugglers to return to Indonesia without passing through immigration. This article examines the case of Gerakan Anti-Trafficking (Anti-Trafficking Movement, GAT) and its implications for our understanding of emerging modes of non-state involvement in border regulation.
On the fragility of medical virtue in a neoliberal context: the case of commercial conflicts of interest in reproductive medicine.
14 August 2017
University of Sydney

Mayes, C;Blakley, B;Kerridge, I;Komesaroff, P;Olver, I;Lipworth, W

Social, political, and economic environments play an active role in nurturing professional virtue. Yet, these environments can also lead to the erosion of virtue. As such, professional virtue is fragile and vulnerable to environmental shifts. While physicians are often considered to be among the most virtuous of professional groups, concern has also always existed about the impact of commercial arrangements on physicians’ willingness and capacity to enact their professional virtues. This article examines the ways in which commercial arrangements have been negotiated to secure medical virtue from real or perceived threats of erosion. In particular, we focus on the concern surrounding conflicts of interest arising from commercial arrangements that have developed as a result of neoliberal economic and social policies. The deregulation of medical markets and privatization of services have produced new commercial relationships that are often misunderstood by patients, publics, and physicians themselves. ‘Conflicts of interest’ policies have been introduced in an attempt to safeguard ethical conduct and medical practice. However, a number of virtue ethicists have critiqued these policies as inadequate for securing virtue. We examine the ways in which commercial arrangements have been seen to impact upon medical virtue, both historically and in the context of modern medicine (using the example of fertility services in Australia). We then describe and critique current efforts to restore clinical virtue through both conflict of interest policies and through virtue ethics. Finally, we suggest some possible ways of addressing the corrosive effects of neoliberalism on medical virtue.
Communication between health workers and ethnic minorities in Vietnam
16 October 2017
University of Sydney

McKinn, Shannon;Duong, Thuy Linh;Foster, Kirsty;McCaffery, Kirsten

Background: Vietnam has made notable progress in reducing maternal mortality rates during the past 2 decades, but this overall improvement conceals regional and ethnic inequalities. Ethnic minorities in Vietnam experience high rates of poverty and mortality, and they face communication and cultural barriers when accessing health services. Poor communication with health professionals combined with limited health literacy is concerning, particularly in the maternal health context, and may exacerbate existing inequalities. Objective: This study explores primary health care professionals’ perceptions of the quality of their communication with ethnic minority women during and after pregnancy. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 primary health care professionals in Dien Bien province. A thematic analysis was performed using a framework analysis method. Key Results: Health professionals had mostly positive perceptions about their communication with ethnic minority women. However, they generally perceived the effectiveness of their communication as being based on women’s individual capacities to understand health information (both the language used and the content) and factors such as ethnic and cultural differences, rather than reflecting on the suitability of information and materials or on their own communication skills. This placed much of the burden of communication and understanding health information on ethnic minority women and their families. Conclusions: Health professionals perceived of communication as being mainly a one-way street for the provision of health information, and rarely acknowledged the interactive nature of communication. Patient-professional communication and health literacy in Dien Bien province may be improved through the introduction of patient-centered communication skills training that applies health literacy approaches at the health professional level.
DISPARITY OF ACCESS: VARIATIONS IN TRANSIT SERVICE BY RACE, ETHNICITY, INCOME, AND AUTO AVAILABILITY
13 September 2018
University of Sydney

Borowski, Elisa;Ermagun, Alireza;Levinson, David

This study explores the relationship between transit-based job accessibility and minority races and ethnicities, low- and middle-income households, and carless households at the block group level for the 50 largest by population metropolitan regions in the United States. A log-linear regression model is used to identify inequities in transit-based job accessibility across the US using data collected from the American Community Survey, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Location Database, and the Access Across America database. The intra-metropolitan analyses reveal that accessibility is unevenly distributed across block groups that have different densities of race and levels of income. The differences in accessibility are especially apparent where there are denser pockets with higher percentages of African Americans, Hispanics, low-income households, and zero-car households. The inter-metropolitan analyses show that accessibility is unevenly distributed across metropolitan regions across the US when considering various sociodemographic populations. Different metropolitan regions provide different levels of accessibility for all investigated sociodemographic categories, whether considering racial minorities, levels of income, or car ownership. The results may inform recommendations for equitable transport planning and policy-making.
Hitting the white ceiling: Structural racism and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university graduates
15 July 2019
University of Sydney

Plater, S;Mooney-Somers, Julie;Barclay, Lesley;Boulton, John

This article reports on a study that explored what it means to be a mature-age Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university graduate in the context of age, life-stage, history, culture, socioeconomic status, race and place. Using narrative interview data and fieldwork observation, we focus on the graduates’ workplace experiences and take a case study approach to amplify their voices. We argue that the data challenges the ideological construct of Australia as a ‘post-racial’ society and illustrates how interrelated variants of structural racism function to sanction, silence and control educated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, divide communities into quasi-hierarchies and sustain white power and privilege. We show how these variants are expressed as low expectations, shadeism, culturism and privilege protectionism, and argue that their enactment can erect an invisible barrier to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professional progression: a ‘white ceiling’ above which many graduates struggle to ascend.
Explaining recent increases in calorie intake in rural india: The role of social policy strengthening
08 August 2019
University of Sydney

Pritchard, Bill;Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala;Siddiqui, Md Zakaria

During the past decade, considerable research efforts have sought to explain India’s “calorie consumption paradox”, namely, the coexistence of a decline in average per capita calorie intake in rural India alongside increased material living standards. Evidence from the most recent (68th) round of the National Sample Survey (NSS), released in 2014, however, indicates increases in calorie intake, notably among poorer income quintiles. This paper argues that the turnaround in these data is linked to the improved performance of pro-poor social protection measures. Analysis of data suggests a close association between states that have made the greatest improvements in social policy delivery systems, and increased calorie intake for the poorest quintile of rural populations. This conclusion supports wider international evidence on the importance of social protection strengthening for nutrition-sensitive economic growth. © 2019 Taylor & Francis.
Settling refugees in Australia: achievements and challenges
10 September 2019
University of Sydney

Fozdar, Farida;Banki, Susan

This article examines the extent to which Australia fulfils its legal obligations for resettled refugees. This necessitates noting both the international frameworks that inform the rights accorded to refugees as well as applicable Australian law and policies. But while laws provide us with a point of departure, a thorough analysis of how these laws are upheld in the refugee context requires a focus on the lived experience of settlement, and identification of where law, policy and practice are disjoint and where they conjoin. The paper concludes by noting the opportunities provided by, and limitations of, law and policy, as means to facilitate integration of resettled refugees, and offers some thoughts on how refugee resettlement in Australia might be improved.
The Transformation of Homeland Politics in the Era of Resettlement: Bhutanese refugees in Nepal and the diaspora
10 September 2019
University of Sydney

Banki, Susan

This article examines how resettled Bhutanese refugees who lived in refugee camps in Nepal for two decades perceive, understand, and interact with their “home” country of Bhutan in the political sphere. It draws on initial field research (of a larger, six-year longitudinal project) of Bhutanese refugees who remain in Nepal and who have resettled in the diaspora. The first part of the paper will review the theories that might predict resettlement political engagement as categorized by the author (declining, continuing, shifting, and reformed). After a brief discussion of methods, the article will then review the context of refugeehood and resettlement for refugees from Bhutan, and will then compare homeland politics in the preresettlement and resettlement phases. The article concludes that homeland politics has continued in the resettlement era, although in somewhat altered form.
The ‘New’ Migration for Work Phenomenon: The Pursuit of Emancipation and Recognition in the Context of Work
23 October 2019
University of Sydney

Groutsis, Dimitria;Vassilopoulou, Joana;Kyriakidou, Olivia;Ozbilgin, Mustafa

This article examines the ‘new’ migration for work phenomenon gripping Southern Europe since the Global Financial Crisis struck in 2008, by focusing on the case of skilled Greeks migrating to Germany for work purposes. In applying Honneth’s concept of emancipation to the domain of work, the article frames emancipation as a phenomenon which emerges from an individual’s search for meaningful work and as a form of resistance to deteriorating institutions and social injustice. Informed by this is an assessment of the new migration for work phenomenon from Greece to Germany by employing survey data on the perceptions of skilled emigrants. Following analysis of the findings, it is concluded that migration is a form of emancipation that allows individuals to regain recognition and self-respect while also to protest the erosion of social and human rights in their home country.
Emergency management response and recovery plans in relation to sexual and gender minorities in NEW South Wales, Australia
06 December 2019
University of Sydney

Dominey-Howes, Dale T.M.;Gorman-Murray, Andrew;McKinnon, Scott

This paper undertakes a systematic critical review through a 'queer lens' of the emergency management response and recovery plans in New South Wales, Australia, in order to determine how the needs of sexual and gender minorities (LGBTI people) are considered and met. We also document the outsourcing by the NSW government of emergency response and recovery arrangements to third party, faith-based Christian institutions and explore how those institutions have been exempted from anti-discrimination protections under Commonwealth (Australian) and State (NSW) law. This enables us to explore the potential implications for LGBTI people in relation to the concepts of vulnerability and resilience. We find the needs of LGBTI people should in practice be met. However, due to anti-discrimination exemptions permitted by law to faith-based Christian institutions, LGBTI people are not being treated equally. We find a 'blindness to difference' in relation to the needs of LGBTI individuals and families. As such, we principally conclude that in NSW, Australia, the needs of LGBTI people in post-disaster response and recovery arrangements are inadequately addressed. We recommend further research at the intersection of religion, sexuality and disaster risk reduction to better understand the experiences and needs of LGBTI people (including those of faith) and how faith-based institutions might support LGBTI inclusive response and recovery.
Problems and possibilities on the margins: LGBT experiences in the 2011 Queensland floods
09 January 2020
University of Sydney

Gorman-Murray, Andrew;Morris, Sally;Keppel, Jessica;McKinnon, Scott;Dominey-Howes, Dale T.M.

Vulnerability to disasters is not inherent to particular social groups but results from existing marginality. Marginalisation from social, political and economic resources and recognition underpins vulnerability and impedes recovery. Yet concurrently, disasters can reveal the resilient capacities of some marginal groups, who often develop specific means of coping with marginality. This article applies these perspectives to the experiences of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans) people during the 2011 disaster in Queensland, Australia, which resulted from catastrophic flooding of Brisbane and South-East Queensland. The findings come from a survey conducted by the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC) a year after the floods, which sought to understand LGBT experiences, resources and needs. An agreement was established between QAHC and university researchers to facilitate data analysis. This article analyses some key findings using the concept of marginality to understand both vulnerability and resilience. This framework helps grasp the particular issues facing LGBT people. The data reveal vulnerability due to social and political marginality, including discrimination and inhibited access to assistance, but simultaneously examples of resilience borne by self-reliance and coping strategies developed in a context of marginality. Understanding LGBT marginality, vulnerability and resilience helps contribute to inclusive and effective disaster preparation, response and recovery.
Avoiding the Banality of Evil in Times of COVID-19: Thinking Differently with a Biopsychosocial Perspective for Future Health and Social Policies Development
14 September 2020
University of Sydney

Leonardi, Matilde;Lee, Haejung;van der Veen, Sabina;Maribo, Thomas;Cuenot, Marie;Simon, Liane;Paltamaa, Jaana;Maart, Soraya;Tucker, Carole;Besstrashnova, Yanina;Shosmin, Alexander;Cid, Daniel;Almborg, Ann-Helene;Anttila, Heidi;Yamada, Shin;Frattura, Lucilla;Zavaroni, Carlo;Zhuoying, Qiu;Martinuzzi, Andrea;Martinuzzi, Michela;Magnani, Francesca Giulia;Snyman, Stefanus;El Oumri, Ahmed Amine;Sylvain, Ndegeya;Layton, Natasha;Sykes, Catherine;Saleeby, Patricia Welch;Winkler, Andrea Sylvia;de Camargo, Olaf Kraus

The COVID-19 pandemic provides the opportunity to re-think health policies and health systems approaches by the adoption of a biopsychosocial perspective, thus acting on environmental factors so as to increase facilitators and diminish barriers. Specifically, vulnerable people should not face discrimination because of their vulnerability in the allocation of care or life-sustaining treatments. Adoption of biopsychosocial model helps to identify key elements where to act to diminish effects of the pandemics. The pandemic showed us that barriers in health care organization affect mostly those that are vulnerable and can suffer discrimination not because of severity of diseases but just because of their vulnerability, be this age or disability and this can be avoided by biopsychosocial planning in health and social policies. It is possible to avoid the banality of evil, intended as lack of thinking on what we do when we do, by using the emergence of the emergency of COVID-19 as a Trojan horse to achieve some of the sustainable development goals such as universal health coverage and equity in access, thus acting on environmental factors is the key for global health improvement.
Supporting black lives ‘mattering’ with flexible health care
14 September 2020
University of Sydney

Preisz, Paul;Preisz, Anne

Black lives ‘mattering’ should mean intrinsically supporting feasible healthcare options for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This requires reimagining outmoded, ‘neo‐colonial’ type models of care with implicit prejudice in hospital emergency departments (EDs). Equitably serving the needs of vulnerable cohorts like First Nations people that currently suffer most from lack of access to suitable healthcare is incumbent on government and society. To ‘close the gap’ for Aboriginal people, flexible treatment options should be designed with and for indigenous communities; developing models of care that will improve Aboriginal patient's attendance and completion of treatment in emergency departments. Flexiclinic, jointly developed by the Aboriginal Liaison Service and St Vincent's Hospital ED has developed such an innovative model. Since its recent inception, it has already shown enormous benefits, both in promoting equitable access and improving the health and welfare of Aboriginal patients who are receiving ongoing and quality care.
Disability-Related Questions for Administrative Datasets
14 September 2020
University of Sydney

Madden, Rosamond H.;Lukersmith, Sue;Zhou, Qingsheng;Glasgow, Melita;Johnston, Scott

High rates of unemployment among people with disability are long-standing and persistent problems worldwide. For public policy, estimates of prevalence and population profiles are required for designing support schemes such as Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme; for monitoring implementation of the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities; and for monitoring service access, participation, and equity for people with disability in mainstream systems including employment. In the public sector, creating a succinct identifier for disability in administrative systems is a key challenge for public policy design and monitoring. This requires concise methods of identifying people with disability within systems, producing data comparable with population data to gauge accessibility and equity. We aimed to create disability-related questions of value to the purposes of an Australian state and contribute to literature on parsimonious and respectful disability identification for wider application. The research, completed in 2017, involved mapping and identification of key disability concepts for inclusion in new questions, focus groups to refine wording of new questions, and online surveys of employees evaluating two potential new question sets on the topic of disability and environment. Recommendations for new disability-related questions and possible new data collection processes are being considered and used by the leading state authority.
Improving sex and gender identity equity and inclusion at conservation and ecology conferences
24 September 2020
University of Sydney

Tulloch, Ayesha I. T.

Conferences are important for professional learning and for building academics' reputations and networks. All members of the scientific community should feel supported and free to contribute their best at such events. I evaluated the actions and policies of conferences held by international academic societies for ecology and conservation since 2009, to assess whether conferences support participation across sexual orientations and gender identities. Although half of the 30 conferences had codes of conduct promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, the quantity and quality of initiatives to support such principles varied between societies and years. Conferences with codes were significantly more likely to implement structural initiatives to minimize discrimination or harassment, such as procedures for reporting misconduct and submission guidelines to promote speaker diversity, as well as initiatives to support parents. Initiatives minimizing barriers to attendance were rare; 47% of conferences were held in locations that discriminate against certain identities and <10% promoted event safety and accessibility to potential attendees. Piecemeal actions and inadequate conference evaluation have resulted in no significant growth in gender equity or diversity initiatives. I propose a six-step timeline that improves conference inclusion by embedding diversity and equity into planning, financing, marketing, scientific and social scheduling, evaluation and reporting.
Crises in international education, and government responses: a comparative analysis of racial discrimination and violence towards international students
09 February 2021
University of Sydney

Ramia, Gaby

Crises affect international students’ overseas experiences, but crisis theory is rarely considered in international education studies. This article provides a comparative study of two countries, using a ‘most similar cases’ research design, to analyse host-nation government responses to crisis situations. The two countries are Australia and New Zealand. The crisis in each case relates to racial discrimination and violence against international students. The article finds that Australia and New Zealand each had a ‘long-shadow crisis’. Yet, Australia’s governmental response was more systematic and comprehensive, mainly because of the formation of a pro-action ‘advocacy coalition’ which was formed in the context of a federal political system. The article discusses key implications for international education studies, highlighting that governmental structures matter in crisis response, and that crisis theory is important to interpreting policy challenges, especially in the era of COVID-19.
Experiences of Latinx Individuals Hospitalized for COVID-19: A Qualitative Study
06 April 2021
University of Sydney

Cervantes, Lilia;Martin, Marlene;Frank, Maria G.;Farfan, Julia F.;Kearns, Mark;Rubio, Luis A.;Tong, Allison;Gonzalez, Andrea Matus;Camacho, Claudia;Collings, Adriana;Mundo, William;Powe, Neil R.;Fernandez, Alicia

Importance Latinx individuals, particularly immigrants, are at higher risk than non-Latinx White individuals of contracting and dying from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Little is known about Latinx experiences with COVID-19 infection and treatment. Objective To describe the experiences of Latinx individuals who were hospitalized with and survived COVID-19. Design, Setting, and Participants The qualitative study used semistructured phone interviews of 60 Latinx adults who survived a COVID-19 hospitalization in public hospitals in San Francisco, California, and Denver, Colorado, from March 2020 to July 2020. Transcripts were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. Data analysis was conducted from May 2020 to September 2020. Main Outcomes and Measures Themes and subthemes that reflected patient experiences. Results Sixty people (24 women and 36 men; mean [SD] age, 48 [12] years) participated. All lived in low-income areas, 47 participants (78%) had more than 4 people in the home, and most (44 participants [73%]) were essential workers. Four participants (9%) could work from home, 12 (20%) had paid sick leave, and 21 (35%) lost their job because of COVID-19. We identified 5 themes (and subthemes) with public health and clinical care implications: COVID-19 was a distant and secondary threat (invincibility, misinformation and disbelief, ingrained social norms); COVID-19 was a compounder of disadvantage (fear of unemployment and eviction, lack of safeguards for undocumented immigrants, inability to protect self from COVID-19, and high-density housing); reluctance to seek medical care (worry about health care costs, concerned about ability to access care if uninsured or undocumented, undocumented immigrants fear deportation); health care system interactions (social isolation and change in hospital procedures, appreciation for clinicians and language access, and discharge with insufficient resources or clinical information); and faith and community resiliency (spirituality, Latinx COVID-19 advocates). Conclusions and Relevance In interviews, Latinx patients with COVID-19 who survived hospitalization described initial disease misinformation and economic and immigration fears as having driven exposure and delays in presentation. To confront COVID-19 as a compounder of social disadvantage, public health authorities should mitigate COVID-19-related misinformation, immigration fears, and challenges to health care access, as well as create policies that provide work protection and address economic disadvantages.
Building a roadmap for inclusive disaster risk reduction in Australian communities
02 June 2021
University of Sydney

Villeneuve, Michelle

Introduction As a signatory to the Sendai Framework, Australia has committed to ensuring that the needs and voices of people with disability are included in disaster risk management and removing the barriers that stop people with disability from engaging with disaster risk reduction activities. In 2015, the pathways to achieving this and their feasibility were entirely unclear. Purpose This paper shares Australia’s progress on developing and advancing Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) at the local community level through cross-sector collaboration and grassroots innovation. Method Over a 5-year period, this participatory research brought emergency managers together with people with disability and the community-based services that support them. Together we collected, analysed and interpreted data, worked out change strategies, implemented them, evaluated how they worked and repeated the cycle over a series of projects. Findings The scope of this research encompassed inclusive community engagement and capacity development; combining practice wisdom and research evidence to develop DIDRR policy and practices that leave nobody behind. DIDRR progressed in three stages including: (a) identifying the scope for DIDRR and giving direction to emergency managers; (b) defining roles and responsibilities for people with disability and the services that support them; and (c) building cross sector mechanisms for sharing responsibility. Discussion An integrated approach to knowledge creation and dissemination offered an authentic way to value and combine scientific knowledge with “local knowledge” that is gained from experience and built from the ground up. Central to building a roadmap for DIDRR was the co-creation of tools guiding its implementation. Implications The co-designed products that emerged and are currently being used to translate and scale DIDR practices across Australian communities managing in the context of the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires and COVID-19 pandemic.
Drugs as technologies of the self: Enhancement and transformation in LGBTQ cultures
21 June 2021
University of Sydney

Pienaar, Kiran;Race, Kane;Murphy, Dean;Lea, Toby

The consumption of drugs has long been a mainstay of urban queer cultures and it is well-recognised that complex connections exist between sexual minoritisation and desires to chemically alter bodily experience. Yet despite evidence that rates of consumption are higher among LGBTQ populations, research exploring the gendered and sexual dynamics of these forms of consumption is limited and tends to frame such consumption as a response to stigma, marginalisation and discrimination. Against this dominant explanatory frame, this article explores the diverse experiences of LGBTQ consumers, and in so doing highlights both the pleasures and benefits of consumption, as well as potential risks and harms. Contributing to the growing body of ontopolitically oriented research that treats the materiality of drugs as emergent and contingent, we trace the ontologies of drugs, sexuality and gender that LGBTQ subjects generate through specific practices of consumption. Our analysis draws on qualitative interviews with 42 self-identified LGBTQ people from an Australian study designed to explore how sexual and gender-diverse minorities pursue particular drug effects to enhance or transform their experience of gender and/or sexuality. Our participants’ accounts illuminate how drug consumption materialises in relation to sex, desire and play where it enhances pleasure, facilitates transgression and increases endurance. In the context of gender variance, our findings suggest that drug use can transform gendered experience and enable the expression of non-normative gender identities, in the process challenging gender binarism. By considering the productive role of drugs in enacting queer identities, this article treats drugs as ‘technologies of the self’ (Foucault 1988) and explores how drug consumption, sex and gender shape each other across a range of settings. We conclude by reflecting on the implications of our findings for research and service provision, and suggest ways of engaging LGBTQ consumers in terms that address their diverse priorities and experiences.
Addressing power asymmetries in global health: Imperatives in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
25 June 2021
University of Sydney

Abimbola, Seye;Asthana, Sumegha;Montenegro, Cristian;Guinto, Renzo R;Jumbam, Desmond Tanko;Louskieter, Lance;Kabubei, Kenneth Munge;Munshi, Shehnaz;Muraya, Kui;Okumu, Fredros;Saha, Senjuti;Saluja, Deepika;Pai, Madhukar

Summary points The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Black Lives Matter and Women in Global Health movements, and ongoing calls to decolonise global health have all created space for uncomfortable but important conversations that reveal serious asymmetries of power and privilege that permeate all aspects of global health. In this article, we, a diverse, gender-balanced group of public (global) health researchers and practitioners (most currently living in the so-called global South), outline what we see as imperatives for change in a post-pandemic world. At the individual level (including and especially ourselves), we emphasise the need to emancipate and decolonise our own minds (from the colonial conditionings of our education), straddle and use our privilege responsibly (to empower others and avoid elite capture), and build “Southern” networks (to affirm our ownership of global health). At the organisational level, we call for global health organisations to practice real diversity and inclusion (in ways that go beyond the cosmetic), to localise their funding decisions (with people on the ground in the driving seat), and to progressively self-decentralise (and so, divest themselves of financial, epistemic, and political power). And at both the individual and organisational level, we emphasise the need to hold ourselves, our governments, and global health organisations accountable to these goals, and especially for governance structures and processes that reflect a commitment to real change. By putting a spotlight on coloniality and existing inequalities, the COVID-19 pandemic inspires calls for a more equitable world and for a decolonised and decentralised approach to global health research and practice, one that moves beyond tokenistic box ticking about diversity and inclusion into real and accountable commitments to transformative change.
Covid-19 And The Policy-Induced Vulnerabilities Of Temporary Migrant Workers In Australia
30 June 2021
University of Sydney

Clibborn, Stephen;Wright, Chris F.

The COVID-19 crisis has starkly exposed the existing economic vulnerability of temporary migrants in many countries. In Australia, many temporary migrants, who were already at risk of marginalisation due to policies restricting their bargaining power and agency (Wright and Clibborn 2020), have lost their jobs and have minimal financial support due to their exclusion from public welfare. We argue that the situation confronting temporary migrant workers is a direct consequence of dramatic and deliberate changes in immigration policy since the 1990s. These policy changes were engineered by the Australian state with the professed aim of increasing labour market efficiency, and led to the abandonment of previous policy arrangements that had successfully enabled social and economic inclusion of migrant workers. The next section examines the shift in Australian immigration selection and control to an exclusive focus on improving the short-term economic contribution of visa policy. The article then analyses how these policies have eroded temporary migrants’ rights and channelled temporary migrants into sectors that have poor quality employment practices. It concludes by outlining proposals to avoid marginalising migrants in the future through a greater focus on socially inclusionary measures.
West Papua and the International History of Decolonization, 1961-69
27 July 2021
University of Sydney

Kluge, Emma

Scholars of international history have argued for the separation of decolonization struggles in Africa and Asia between 1945 and 1965 from Pacific struggles that occurred after 1960. Yet the West Papuan campaign for independence demonstrates how deeply connected decolonization in the Pacific was to anti-colonial movements in Africa and Asia. In their petitions to the United Nations, West Papuan activists drew on race and rights discourse – evoking the principles of Pan-Africanism and self-determination – to appeal to African leaders and the UN General Assembly. Ultimately West Papuan claims to independence were foreclosed due to the shifting terrain of international politics and global governance of the 1960s. Papuan activists found it hard to gain support amidst the rise of Third World power, shifting politics of human rights and self-determination, and the dynamics of the Cold War. The very conditions that had created opportunities for African and Asian nations to achieve independence worked against the claims of the West Papuans. In this article I argue that expanding the geographies and temporalities of decolonization creates a more international history of decolonization and demonstrates the transformation of anticolonial politics and global governance in the 1960s.
Health and healthcare for people with disabilities in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic
16 September 2021
University of Sydney

Kavanagh, Anne;Hatton, Chris;Stancliffe, Roger J;Aitken, Zoe;King, Tania;Hastings, Richard;Totsika, Vaso;Llewellyn, Gwynnyth;Emerson, Eric

BACKGROUND: While emerging evidence shows increased mortality from COVID-19 among people with disability, evidence regarding whether there are disability-related inequalities in health during the pandemic is lacking. OBJECTIVE: This study compares access to COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related health care and mental health of people with and without disability. METHODS: Longitudinal analysis of 12,703 adults (16-64 years) who participated in W9 (2017-2019) and the April and/or May COVID-19 special surveys of the UK Understanding Society study. Descriptive analyses and Poisson regression (adjusted for age, gender, ethnicity and financial stress) were conducted to estimate associations between disability (measured at Wave 9) and a number of different COVID-19-related health and health care outcomes (COVID-19 symptoms, testing and hospitalisation), mental health and loneliness, and non-COVID-19 related health care (e.g. outpatient and inpatient hospital care, prescription medications). RESULTS: Results from the fully-adjusted regression models found that people with disability were more likely: to be hospitalised if symptomatic (adjusted PRR 3.0 95% 1.07-8.43); to experience current symptoms of psychological distress (PRR 1.15, 95% CI 1.05-1.26) and to report being lonely (PRR 1.75, 95% CI 1.46-2.09) compared to non-disabled people. People with disability reported much higher levels of comorbidities than people without disability. However, inability to access health care and treatment were similar. CONCLUSIONS: As the UK opens up, it is important that health care services and social policy address the poor mental health and social isolation of people with disability so that the inequalities occurring early in the pandemic do not become further entrenched.
Becoming Anti-Racist Occupational Therapy Practitioners: A Scoping Study.
19 October 2021
University of Sydney

Sterman, Julia;Njelesani, Janet

The ongoing racism pandemic in the United States negatively impacts the health, safety, and occupations of Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color. Although occupational therapy (OT) practitioners have a pressing obligation to actively address racism's causes and consequences, they lack guidance on what to do. This scoping study sought to identify and synthesize existing knowledge on ways OT practitioners and the profession can engage in anti-racist actions. Six databases were searched for content related to OT and anti-racism. The 31 included articles indicated that OT practitioners should: engage in reflexivity on ways their power and privilege impact therapeutic relationships, use inclusive models, consider how racism can impact client occupations and health care access, and address structural racism through advocacy and occupations as means. Although being anti-racist is a lifelong process, strategies within this study can support OT practitioners and the profession to initiate concrete anti-racist actions.
COVID-19: A Crisis of Borders
19 October 2021
University of Sydney

Boucher, Anna;Hooijer, Gerda;King, Desmond;Napier, Isabelle;Stears, Marc

ABSTRACT The public health crisis of COVID-19 has compounded preexisting crises of democratic stability and effective governance, spurring debate about the ability of developed democracies to respond effectively to emergencies confronting their citizens. These crises, much discussed in recent political science, are joined by a further crisis which complicates and reinforces them: A migration crisis. Widespread travel and immigration restrictions instigated the largest and fastest decline in global human mobility in modern history, and COVID-19 may fundamentally change immigration over the longer term. The migration crisis heightens three crucial and preexisting concerns within immigration policy: the role of visa design; the status of undocumented migrants and other migrants without recourse to public funds; and the interaction of immigration and the labor market policy. It could reinforce a rising tide of nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment, protectionist sentiment within labor-market policy debates, and a K-shaped recovery in migration patterns.
Which Social, Economic, and Health Sector Strategies Will Deliver the Greatest Impacts for Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention? Protocol for an Advanced, Systems Modelling Approach
26 November 2021
University of Sydney

Occhipinti, Jo-An;Skinner, Adam;Freebairn, Louise;Song, Yun Ju Christine;Ho, Nicholas;Lawson, Kenny;Lee, Grace Yeeun;Hickie, Ian B.

Background: Current global challenges are generating extensive social disruption and uncertainty that have the potential to undermine the mental health, wellbeing, and futures of young people. The scale and complexity of challenges call for engagement with systems science-based decision analytic tools that can capture the dynamics and interrelationships between physical, social, economic, and health systems, and support effective national and regional responses. At the outset of the pandemic mental health-related systems models were developed for the Australian context, however, the extent to which findings are generalisable across diverse regions remains unknown. This study aims to explore the context dependency of systems modelling insights. Methods: This study will employ a comparative case study design, applying participatory system dynamics modelling across eight diverse regions of Australia to answer three primary research questions: (i) Will current regional differences in key youth mental health outcomes be exacerbated in forward projections due to the social and economic impacts of COVID-19?; (ii) What combination of social policies and health system strengthening initiatives will deliver the greatest impacts within each region?; (iii) To what extent are optimal strategic responses consistent across the diverse regions? We provide a detailed technical blueprint as a potential springboard for more timely construction and deployment of systems models in international contexts to facilitate a broader examination of the question of generalisability and inform investments in the mental health and wellbeing of young people in the post COVID-19 recovery. Discussion: Computer simulation is known as the third pillar of science (after theory and experiment). Simulation allows researchers and decision makers to move beyond what can be manipulated within the scale, time, and ethical limits of the experimental approach. Such learning when achieved collectively, has the potential to enhance regional self-determination, help move beyond incremental adjustments to the status quo, and catalyze transformational change. This research seeks to advance efforts to establish regional decision support infrastructure and empower communities to effectively respond. In addition, this research seeks to move towards an understanding of the extent to which systems modelling insights may be relevant to the global mental health response by encouraging researchers to use, challenge, and advance the existing work for scientific and societal progress.
Social inclusion of migrant workers in a pandemic: employing consumer vulnerability lens to internal Indian migrant experience
04 July 2022
University of Sydney

Voola, A.P.;Ray, S.;Voola, R.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to expand the theoretical understanding of social inclusion of vulnerable populations. Employing cross disciplinary literature from marketing and social policy, this paper examines the factors shaping internal migrant workers experience of inclusion and vulnerability in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a review of social inclusion and consumer vulnerability literature to develop a new and innovative conceptual framework which operationalises social inclusion. This framework was then examined using an illustrative case study of internal migrant worker crisis in India. Data for the case were collected from various national and international media, government and non-government reports published in English on the pandemic related migrant crisis in India. Findings: Access and control over food was fraught with barriers for migrant workers. As the lockdown progressed, access to and control over work opportunities was precarious. Furthermore, the resource-control constraints faced by migrant workers in terms of food, work and transport had a direct impact on their experience of social inclusion. Lastly, the stranded migrant workers found themselves unable to fully participate in economic activities. Originality/value: To the authors' knowledge this is the first paper that integrates consumer vulnerability concept, originating in marketing scholarship into the social inclusion framework. This allowed for anchoring the "aspirational goals" of social inclusion into the concrete context of consumers and marketplaces.
The Impact of Risk-based Capital Rules for International Lending on Income Inequality: Global Evidence
20 December 2022
University of Sydney

Hasan, Iftekhar;Hassan, Gazi;Kim, Suk-Joong;Wu, Eliza

This paper investigates the impact of international bank flows from G10 lender countries on income inequality in 74 borrower countries over 1999-2013. Specifically, we examine the role of international bank flows contingent upon the Basel 2 capital regulation and the level of financial market development in the borrower countries. First, we find that improvements in the borrower country risk weights due to rating upgrades under the Basel 2 framework significantly increase bank flows, leading to improvements in income inequality. Second, we find that the level of financial market development is also important. We report that a well-functioning financial market helps the poor access credit and thereby reduces inequality. Moreover, we employ threshold estimations to identify the thresholds for each of the financial development measures that borrower countries need to reach before realizing the potential reductions in income inequality from international bank financing.
Making a distinction.
15 November 2010
University of KwaZulu-Natal

nan

The Penguin dictionary defines racism as, first, “the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities”; and, second, as “hostility towards or discrimination against people of a race other than one’s own”. Racialism is simply referred to as “racism”. It is, therefore, understandable (albeit regrettable) why, on publication, the term “non-racialism” was twice changed to “non-racism” in the Difference and Diversity column that appeared on August 3.
Aren't You Latino: Building Bridges upon Common Misperceptions
01 January 2000
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

This article addresses minority on minority oppression and itragroup animosity. The author discusses ways in which communities of color can use common misperceptions to their advantage as a bridge to building a larger community.
Racial Profiling: Driving While Mexican and Affirmative Action
01 January 2001
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

This Essay will focus on "racial profiling" not just in the way people think about the term - that is, with respect to stopping motorists for traffic violations based solely on their race, so-called "Driving While Mexican" or "Driving While Black" - but also in the context of "affirmative action - namely, using race as a factor in employment and educational decisions. More broadly, then, I want us to think of "racial profiling" as simply "the use of race to develop an understanding of an individual" which moves us slightly away from more pejorative notions of the phrase that have seeped into the national consciousness.
On Elián and Aliens: A Political Solution to the Plenary Power Problem
01 January 2001
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

The poignant story of a little boy fished out of the sea after losing his mother to the elements captured the country's imagination and ignited a political firestorm. The Elián González saga drew conflicting opinions from nearly every branch of American local, state, and federal governments. This article takes no specific position on Elián's situation. Rather, this artivle values the González story for putting a human face on often faceless legal issues. More specifically, Elián's saga raises the following important question: When should the right of the human being to be treated as an individual trump the right of government to decide how to effectively manage the influx of groups of people into this country through the immigration laws? Part I of this article describes the difficulty in trying to effect substantive constitutional changes in immigration policy through judicial action. Part II presents a political alternative to the judicial solution. Part II also suggests and rebuts criticisms of the political proposal. Finally, this article concludes by briefly returning to the Elián González case to put the issues raised in proper perspective.
The Selective Deportation of Same-Gender Partners: In Search of the "Rara Avis"
01 January 2002
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

This article seeks to explore the possibility that a selective deportation of a same-gender partner who has overstayed her visa constitutes an outrageous case under the AADC test. Its modest goal is to discourage the INS from ever pursuing such a strategy, knowing that there are probably many who believe that same-gender overstays, even if civilly united in Vermont, are not the ideal candidates for "suspect class" status under U.S. constitutional law. That notwithstanding, common sense and sound doctrine suggest that, despite the many anti-gay and anti-immigrant decisions handed down over the last twenty years, the Court will not hesitate to halt egregious government conduct when the plaintiff is being deprived of equal rights and there is no legitimate countervailing reason to justify the discrimination. In the hypothetical mass deportation of same-gender overstays, this Article applies such an approach while breathing life into the as-yet-unidentified "outrageous" exception test created by the AADC Court.
Postsecondary School Education Benefits for Undocumented Immigrants: Promises and Pitfalls
01 January 2002
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Should longtime undocumented immigrants have the same opportunity as lawful permanent residents and U.S. citizens to attend state colleges and universities? There are two typical justifications for denying them such opportunities. First, treating undocumented immigrants as in-state residents discriminates against U.S. citizen nonresidents of the state. Second, and more broadly, undocumented immigration should be discouraged as a policy matter, and therefore allowing undocumented immigrant children equal opportunities as legal residents condones and perhaps encourages "illegal" immigration. This essay responds to these two concerns by surveying state and federal solutions to this issue.
Charter Insights for American Equality Jurisprudence
01 January 2002
University of Pennsylvania

Ross, Stephen F.

Although both the Canadian Charter and the United States Constitutions protect persons from denial of equal protection of the law, the interpretation of the broad language of the two equality guarantees has been quite different. The Supreme Court of Canada has adopted an approach of substantive equality, concluding that section 15 is designed to prevent the loss of human dignity that accompanies discrimination based on disadvantage and stereotype. At least with regard to race, a majority of the justices on the United States Supreme Court adhere to a jurisprudence of formal equality, concluding that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit - absent compelling justifications - any formal distinction, regardless of whether differential treatment results from racism or a sincere desire to ameliorate prior conditions of racial equality. This paper suggests that Canadian equality jurisprudence has developed over the last twenty years into a workable constitutional doctrine that deserves attention and, indeed, emulation in the United States. Although from a purely descriptive perspective there are a variety of historical and value-based differences between American and Canadian society that can explain the different constitutional doctrines developed in each country, the paper considers and rejects the hypothesis that these differences are so significant as to render Canadian insights irrelevant to the American context. The paper concludes that the Canadian approach is more faithful to a jurisprudence sensitive to the limited judicial activism called for by the landmark American decision in Carolene Products.
Devolution and Discrimination
01 January 2003
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

This essay explores the issue of whether discrimination against two historically disadvantaged groups - racial minorities, on the one hand, and gays and lesbians, on the other - might increase or decrease should the federal immigration power devolve to the individual states. I conclude that while the lack of uniformity that accompanies immigration law devolution might lead to undesirable results in welfare reform and criminal law enforcement, and would likely not stem the tide of racism, it might lead to the opening of opportunities for gay Americans to petition their binational partners for immigration benefits. Such a development would turn the state of Vermont into a solitary haven for binational same-gender unions, thereby improving upon the federal immigration code's desire to keep families together by extending the breadth of its reach to include others usually excluded. Devolution in that case would lead to more protection for immigrants than what is currently available under the status quo
Proposals to Expel Palestinians from the Occupied Territories as Catalyst for a Civil Adjudication Campaign
01 January 2003
University of Pennsylvania

Rogers, Catherine A.

I begin in Part II with a brief sketch of the history of stated policies to expel Palestinians from what is now Israel and the Occupied Territories, and then examine recent proposals that have been made and actions that have been taken to implement modern re-articulations of those historic policies. In Part III, I then review the grounds on which international law proscribes mass expulsions of indigenous and occupied peoples. While international law governing this issue is clear in its application and has been overwhelmingly endorsed by the larger international community, international law seems to have little influence on Israel's conduct. For this reason, my primary focus in this Essay will not be to analyze the international law issues, which have been exhaustively discussed elsewhere. I focus instead, in Part IV, on the enforcement of this well-established international law through private law suits. I review both civil adjudication's promise as an enforcement mechanism and the many obstacles that stand in the way of its success. I cannot in the space of this Essay analyze or resolve all obstacles, but I hope to outline the various benefits and limitations of adjudication as a response to human rights violations in this context, and to proffer a checklist of some of the important practical considerations entailed in launching an international civil litigation campaign on behalf of Palestinians.
The Child Citizenship Act and the Family Reunification Act: Valuing the Citizen Child as Well as the Citizen Parent
01 January 2003
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Leading civil rights advocates today lament the degree to which current immigration law fails to maintain family unity. The recent passage of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 is a rare bipartisan step in the right direction because it grants automatic citizenship to foreign-born children of U.S. citizens upon receipt of their permanent resident status and finalization of their adoption. Congress now has before it the Family Reunification Act of 2001, which aims to restore certain procedural safeguards relaxed in 1996 to ensure that foreign-born parents are not summarily separated from their children, many of whom may be U.S. citizens. Because it usually takes both children and parents to create a family, my hope is that Congress will look just as favorably upon the seemingly more complex, but actually less extraordinary, measures suggested in the Family Reunification Act as it did with the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. My fear, however, is that despite its promised gains, embedded within the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 are assumptions that will make passage of key parts of the Family Reunification Act difficult if not impossible. One of these assumptions is that criminal adult legal permanent residents (LPRs) are presumptively deportable unless they happen to be a citizen's adopted child.
Critical Race Theory in Three Acts: Racial Profiling, Affirmative Action, and the Diversity Visa Lottery
01 January 2003
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

The usual debates surrounding multiculturalism pit individual rights against group grievances in a variety of contexts including racial profiling, affirmative action, and the diversity visa lottery, often with seemingly contradictory results. Liberals often favor affirmative action but decry both racial profiling and the diversity visa lottery, while many conservatives hold the opposite view. Critical race theory provides a unique alternative to stock liberal and conservative arguments, allowing one to draw meaningful and persuasive distinctions among these seminal issues surrounding law enforcement, education, and immigration policy.
Proxies for Loyalty in Constitutional Immigration Law: Citizenship and Race after September 11
01 January 2003
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

The purpose of this article is to share some thoughts about using citizenship and race as proxies for loyalty in constitutional immigration discourse within two contexts: one historical and one current. The current context is the profiling of Muslim and Arab immigrants post-September 11, and the historical context is the distinction the Constitution draws between birthright and naturalized citizens in the Presidential Eligibility Clause.
Decoupling 'Terrorist' from 'Immigrant': An Enhanced Role for the Federal Courts Post 9/11
01 January 2003
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Attorney General John Ashcroft has utilized the broad immigration power ceded to him by Congress to ferret out terrorists among noncitizens detained for minor immigration violations. Such a strategy provides the government two options: deport those who are not terrorists, and then prosecute others who are. While certainly efficient, using immigration courts and their less formal due process protections afforded noncitizens should trigger greater oversight and vigilance by the federal courts for at least four reasons: First, while the legitimate goal of immigration law enforcement is deportation, Ashcroft's true objective in targeting noncitizens is criminal prosecution for terrorism and subversion. Second, we can well expect that Ashcroft will dispatch criminal law enforcement and immigration agents that might be tempted, at the margin, to play fast and loose with suspects' civil liberties, as evidenced by the FBI's deceptive practices in over 75 post-9/11 cases. Third, history is replete with examples of federal government zealotry, and the federal courts would do well not to bow to majority sentiment especially when racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and age stereotypes are reinforced at the expense of the egalitarian ideal. The legacy of Brown v. Board of Education should be that the Supreme Court will never reaffirm Korematsu's principles. And fourth, controlling political overreaching enhances our standing abroad.
Noncitizen Students and Immigration Policy Post-9/11
01 January 2003
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

The purpose of this article is to describe the post-9/11 world for noncitizen students and scholars in light of recent federal legislation, specifically focusing on three laws: the USA-PATRIOT Act of 2001, the Border Commuter Student Act of 2002, and the proposed Capital Student Adjustment Act, currently pending in Congress. In all three, Congress is seen trying to walk the fine line between providing fair access to postsecondary education to noncitizen students and guarding against the possibility that such institutions are being used as a springboard for terrorist activity.
Race, Immigration, and the Department of Homeland Security
01 January 2004
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Despite the wisdom of separating the service and enforcement functions of our immigration bureau, the new tripartite system under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security risks fueling the "immigrant Arab as terrorist" stereotype, rather than helping to re-establish the reality that noncitizen terrorists, like U.S. citizen ones, are a rare species.
The Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States
01 January 2005
University of Pennsylvania

Oboler, Suzanne;Gonzalez, Deena J.;Romero, Victor C.

Victor C. Romero contributed the following encyclopedia entries: "Immigration/Deportation Cases and Legislation"; "McKinney v. Saviego"; and "People ex rel. Kimberly v. de la Guerra." This landmark scholarly work offers comprehensive, reliable, and accessible information about the fastest growing minority population in the United States. With an unprecedented scope and cutting-edge scholarship, the Encyclopedia draws together the diverse historical and contemporary experiences in the United States of Latinos and Latinas from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Over 900 A-to-Z articles written by academics, scholars, writers, artists, and journalists, address such broad topics as identity, art, politics, religion, education, health, and history. The Encyclopediafills a void in the historical scholarship of an underserved population. - From the Publisher
Asians, Gay Marriage, and Immigration: Family Unification at a Crossroads
01 January 2005
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Family unification has long been a significant component of U.S. immigration policy, and the Asian Pacific American (APA) community has long been a champion of laws that strengthen America's commitment to this goal. The recent emergence of same-gender marriages among state and local governments has caused society to consider more closely its definition of the family, challenging the traditional notion that only civil unions between heterosexuals should be celebrated. But because U.S. immigration law does not include a gay or lesbian partner within its statutory definition of spouse, binational same-gender couples may not legally remain in the country together, even if they have been married under favorable domestic or foreign law. Aside from burdening the close to 36,000 binational same-gender couples in the nation today, restrictive U.S. immigration policies pose a particular dilemma to APAs who otherwise advocate family unity, yet embrace more traditional notions of the family. That is because traditional conceptions of marriage and the family may wreak havoc on the approximately 16,000 binational couples in which the foreign partner is Asian. APAs who clamor for family-friendly immigration policies but temper their advocacy with tradition create a risk of deportation for thousands of gay and lesbian Asian immigrants with whom they should seek to build coalitions. Advocating a traditional view of family unity thus endangers the immigration status of tens of thousands of Asian gays and lesbians, undermining claims to family unification the APA community has long valued.
Rethinking Minority Coalition Building: Valuing Self-Sacrifice, Stewardship and Anti-subordination
01 January 2005
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

This essay provides an alternative to the conventional self-interest model of coalition building to explore one that relies instead on the three concepts of self-sacrifice, stewardship, and anti-subordination, addressing anticipated counterarguments and providing concrete examples of how this model might work.
Are Filipina/os Asians or Latina/os?: Reclaiming the Anti-Subordination Objective of Equal Protection After Grutter and Gratz
01 January 2005
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

In this piece, I explore two avenues of political action - self-identification for affirmative action purposes and longer-term solutions to educational inequity - in an attempt to develop a coherent and effective post-Grutter and Gratz strategy for promoting equal educational opportunities consistent with the demands of equal protection. I use the experiences of Filipina/o-Americans as a vehicle for exploring these issues. I hope to show that diversity as the underlying goal of affirmative action fails to capture the core of modern equal protection jurisprudence implicit in Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia: that treating all races equally requires that policymakers take steps to undermine white supremacy - that the cornerstone of equality is the elimination of subordination. After Grutter and Gratz, we would do well to recover and lift up that anti-subordination ideal, and I contend that Filipina/o-Americans are particularly well-positioned to lead a coalitional effort toward that end.
Immigration: Mind Over Matter
01 January 2005
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

This article examines the current field of debate and legislation on immigration reform and related due process issues. "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" is an expression in the immigration debate and embraces five tenets. First, reform addresses the eleven million people who are living in the United States without documentation and specifically provide them with an incentive to make themselves known to the government, register for some kind of work visa, and if they wish, get on the path to permanent residence. Second, reform embodies what lobbyists in Washington, D.C. call the "future flow," which corresponds to the flow of people who enter the United States based on the labor demands of the United States market and the desire by many to earn a decent living or reunited with a loved one. Third, reform deals with the archaic family and employment immigration quotas in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that have led to unconscionable waiting lines for immigrants who are eligible to apply for legal status based on a family or employer relationship, but who are unable to receive the actual visa because the statutory caps have been met. For example, children and spouses of lawful permanent residents from Mexico must wait for more than seven years before they can be reunited with their family in the United States. Fourth, reform takes on a targeted enforcement plan that operates in tandem with our tradition as a nation of immigrants. Finally, reform imparts a package of safeguards and protections to ensure that immigrants do no displace United States workers who are willing and able to perform a particular job, and that all workers, immigrants and United States born alike, receive equal wages, worker conditions, and bargaining rights.
Alienated: Immigrant Rights, the Constitution, and Equality in America
01 February 2005
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Throughout American history, the government has used U.S. citizenship and immigration law to protect privileged groups from less privileged ones, using citizenship as a "legitimate" proxy for otherwise invidious, and often unconstitutional, discrimination on the basis of race. While racial discrimination is rarely legally acceptable today, profiling on the basis of citizenship is still largely unchecked, and has in fact arguable increased in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States. In this thoughtful examination of the intersection between American immigration and constitutional law, Victor C. Romero draws our attention to a "constitutional immigration law paradox" that reserves certain rights for U.S. citizens only, while simultaneously purporting to treat all people fairly under constitutional law regardless of citizenship. - From the Publisher
The Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties
01 January 2006
University of Pennsylvania

Finkelman, Paul;Romero, Victor C.

Victor Romero contributed the following encyclopedia entries: "Civil Liberties of Aliens"; "Race and Immigration"; "Criminal Law/Civil Liberties and Noncitizens in the U.S."; "Illegitimacy and Immigration"; "Homosexuality and Immigration"; "Ambach v. Norwick"; "United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez"; "Fiallo v. Bell"; "INS v,. Chadha"; and "In re Griffiths." This Encyclopedia on American history and law is the first devoted to examining the issues of civil liberties and their relevance to major current events while providing a historical context and a philosophical discussion of the evolution of civil liberties. - From the Publisher
The Policy and Politics of Immigrant Rights
01 January 2007
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

This article examines how immigration policies over the past decade have affected immigrant rights, scrutinizes administrative and legislative efforts to improve or eliminate these measures, and makes recommendations for advancing a due process agenda in the future. The first part of this article analyzes administrative and legislative proposals under four themes: 1) checks and balances, 2) punishment does not fit the crime, 3) judicial review, and 4) detention. The second part of this article identifies efforts to redress measures emanating from the 1996 immigration laws and policies issued after September 11, 2001. For example, it analyzes legislation introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate to restore discretion, efforts to engage the Department of Homeland Security on the complaint process and treatment of immigration detainees, and Supreme Court decisions raising issues on the interpretation of "aggravated felony." Part three of this article summarizes the legislative debate around "comprehensive immigration reform" and attempts made by select Senators in 2006 to add basic safeguards in the legislation, such as expanded protections for asylum seekers; discretionary waivers for immigrants who can show strong equities and facts in their cases; and restrictions on retroactively applying new immigration penalties. Part four of this article describes why some efforts to restore basic protections for immigrants have been challenging for advocates and Members of Congress, and makes recommendations for moving a due process agenda forward.
Crossing Borders: Loving v. Virginia as a Story of Migration
01 January 2007
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

The struggle of binational same-gender partners today parallels the struggles of Mildred and Richard Loving during the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement - not only in the obvious parallels between race and sexual orientation as barriers to freedom, but also in the way the law uses these immutable characteristics to limit the freedom of movement. It is this freedom of movement - this migration or immigration - that I want to focus on in this essay. Lest we forget, the Lovings' story is, importantly, a story of migration: It's a story of the great lengths to which an interracial couple would travel - physically, culturally, and legally - to win justice and equality.
Immigrant Rights in the Shadows of Citizenship
01 January 2008
University of Pennsylvania

Bluff, Rachel Ida;Romero, Victor C.

Victor C. Romero is a contributing author: "Who Should Manage Immigration - Congress or the States? An Introduction to Constitutional Immigration Law." Chapter 12, page 286. Punctuated by marches across the United States in the spring of 2006, immigrant rights has reemerged as a significant and highly visible political issue. Immigrant Rights in the Shadows of U.S. Citizenship brings prominent activists and scholars together to examine the emergence and significance of the contemporary immigrant rights movement. Contributors place the contemporary immigrant rights movement in historical and comparative contexts by looking at the ways immigrants and their allies have staked claims to rights in the past, and by examining movements based in different communities around the United States. Scholars explain the evolution of immigration policy, and analyze current conflicts around issues of immigrant rights; activists engaged in the current movement document the ways in which coalitions have been built among immigrants from different nations, and between immigrant and native born peoples. The essays examine the ways in which questions of immigrant rights engage broader issues of identity, including gender, race, and sexuality. - From the Publisher
U.S. Immigration Policy: Contract or Human Rights Law?
01 January 2008
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

The current immigration debate often reflects a tension between affirming the individual rights of migrants against the power of a nation to control its borders. An examination of U.S. Supreme Court precedent reveals that, from our earliest immigration history to the present time, our immigration policy has functioned more like contract law than human rights law, with the Court deferring to the power of Congress to define the terms of that contract at the expense of the immigrant's freedom.
Everyday Law for Immigrants
01 December 2008
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Immigration is one of the most controversial topics of the decade. Citizens and pundits from across the political spectrum argue for major and disparate changes to American immigration law. Yet few know what American immigration law actually is and how it functions. Everyday Law for Immigrants is an ideal guide for U.S. citizens who want a better understanding of our immigration laws as well as for migrants who make the United States their home. Romero deftly and comprehensively explains the basic challenges immigrants and foreign nationals face, not only within formal immigration policy, but also within American domestic law generally, including rules promulgated by federal, state, and local entities that affect noncitizens. A concise and accessible primer for interested citizens, noncitizens, and their advocates, this book provides a bird's eye view of U.S. immigration history, practice, and procedure, and constructively addresses the many legal issues in areas such as education, housing, and employment that affect foreigners who reside here. - From the Publisher
Evaluating Legal Activism: A Response to Rosenberg
01 January 2009
University of Pennsylvania

Purvis, Dara

Earlier this year, Gerald Rosenberg updated his canonical work The Hollow Hope to incorporate the battles over same-sex marriage as, in his opinion, further support for his theory that the backlash of legal activism can subvert the intended goals. This Article examines three of Rosenberg’s central claims and, by questioning their premises with further evidence from the history of the same-sex marriage movement, roils the waters of whether the litigational and political record of the same-sex marriage movement bolsters or weakens Rosenberg’s thesis. The Article first questions Rosenberg’s claim that activists seeking to advance same sex marriage erroneously chose the courts rather than the political arena to advance their goals. Second, the Article asks whether the goals of same-sex marriage activists can be assessed via a binary outcome-related standard: whether legitimization of same-sex marriage was achieved or failed. Third, the Article investigates whether the advocates for same-sex marriage failed to properly coordinate legal and political efforts. By demonstrating that Rosenberg’s claims should be tempered, the Article suggests strongly that Rosenberg’s wholesale condemnation of the movement should be qualified.
NSEERS: The Consequences of America's Efforts to Secure its Borders
31 March 2009
University of Pennsylvania

Penn State Law Immigrants' Rights Clinic;American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

On behalf of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Center for Immigrants’ Rights (Center) at the Pennsylvania State University’s Dickinson School of Law prepared a white paper on the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS or “special registration”). The white paper provides a legal and policy analysis of the NSEERS program, and recommendations for a new administration. In conducting the research, students at the Center interviewed immigration attorneys who have represented individuals impacted by the NSEERS program; and advocates and policymakers who have spoken or written about the NSEERS program in the larger context of United States immigration and counterterrorism policies after September 11, 2001. In addition, the Center examined governing statutes, regulations and statistics issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Finally, the Center reviewed previous reports by advocates and non-governmental organizations regarding the NSEERS program, and more than forty related federal court decisions.
Decriminalizing Border Crossings
01 January 2010
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

An international border crosser should only be deemed a criminal if the United States government can prove that, with requisite criminal intent, she engaged in an act aside from crossing the border that would constitute a crime. No longer should crossing the border be a strict liability criminal offense. Doing so will restore balance to the civil immigration system, conserve scarce enforcement resources to target truly criminal behavior, enhance our standing abroad, and help heal our racially-polarized discourse on immigration policy.
Christian Realism and Immigration Reform
01 January 2010
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Drawing upon President Barack Obama’s admiration of Reinhold Niebuhr’s work, this Essay outlines a Protestant, Christian realist approach toward immigration policy, with specific focus on the role of the executive in providing providential leadership. Embracing realism in its political, moral, and theological dimensions, Christian realism offers a pragmatic, yet optimistic, alternative to secular liberalism’s faith in reason by striving instead to adhere to God’s guidance on matters, taking into account the fundamentally flawed nature of man. The specific policy prescriptions described here mirror the twin virtues of Christian realism by promoting the hope in pursuit of the peaceable kingdom and the humility to acknowledge the fallibility of man in crafting the less-than-perfect, penultimate answer. Opportunities for exercising effective executive leadership will be discussed, from negotiating the proper role of states and localities to the promotion of comprehensive immigration reform, preferring immigrant integration to stringent law enforcement as the better means to further hospitality to the stranger.
Interrogating Iqbal: Intent, Inertia, and (a Lack of) Imagination
01 January 2010
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

In Ashcroft v. Iqbal, the Court reaffirmed the long-standing equal protection doctrine that government actors can only be held liable for discriminatory conduct when they purposefully rely on a forbidden characteristic, such as race or gender, in promulgating policy; to simply know that minorities and women will be adversely affected by the law does not deny these groups equal protection under the law. This Essay interrogates this doctrine by taking a closer look at Iqbal and Feeney, the thirty-year-old precedent the majority cited as the source of its antidiscrimination standard. Because Feeney was cited in neither of the lower court opinions, its reappearance in Iqbal signals the Court’s reluctance to intervene in matters (even tangentially) related to national security even if the government’s allocation of burdens and benefits perpetuates societal racial and gender privileges. In Feeney, the Court upheld a Massachusetts law granting benefits to war veterans, even though the state legislature was aware that less than two percent of the veterans at the time were women, owing in part to women’s exclusion from military service; thirty years later, the Iqbal Court dismissed constitutional claims against two high ranking federal officials responsible for orchestrating modern-day round-ups of noncitizens from so-called terrorist-breeding states, even though these officials knew their policies would disproportionately burden individuals of a certain racial, religious, and citizenship background. Both cases illustrate the inertia that has befallen the Court as it appears unwilling to engage in the traditional balancing of government interests against individual rights on the theory that the disaffected minorities must essentially prove that lawmakers bore them the equivalent of ill will or animus - in Feeney’s words, reiterated verbatim in Iqbal: that the decisionmakers chose a course of action “because of, not merely in spite of, [the action’s] adverse effects upon an identifiable group.” By taking a closer look at the challenged laws in Feeney and Iqbal, by examining the Court’s choice to defer to the political branches’ decisions to press ahead despite the laws’ effects upon minority groups, and by reminding ourselves of times when the Court’s imagination and innovative thinking stretched beyond the confines of formal rational basis review, this Essay explores the limits inherent in deferring to political actors, especially when we know they are consciously perpetuating privilege, furthering discrimination by default. Even in matters that arguably relate to national security and foreign policy, the Court should never shirk its responsibility to closely scrutinize discriminatory governmental policies that were deliberately adopted.
The One-Year Asylum Deadline and the BIA: No Protection, No Process
21 October 2010
University of Pennsylvania

Penn State Law Immigrants' Rights Cliinic;Human Rights First;National Immigrant Justice Center

The right to seek asylum from persecution is a fundamental and long-recognized human right. The United States committed to protecting refugees in 1967 when it signed the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees and later enacted legislation to incorporate the Protocol’s key provisions into domestic law. Despite these commitments, in 1996 Congress enacted a filing deadline for asylum applications which has resulted in potentially denying protections to thousands of legitimate refugees.
Immigrant Education and the Promise of Integrative Egalitarianism
01 January 2011
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Although not an equal protection case, Martinez v. Regents of the University of California challenges us to grapple with the Supreme Court’s post-Brown commitment to equal opportunity within the context of immigrant higher education. Sadly, Brown’s progeny from Bakke to Parents Involved reveals the cost of embracing a color-blind constitutionalism unmoored from a fundamental commitment to vigilantly combat subordination and dismantle unearned privilege. More optimistically, the Supreme Court’s gay rights jurisprudence developed in Romer v. Evans and Lawrence v. Texas provides insights into how a conservative court can accurately distinguish irrational discrimination from democratic deliberation, a lesson that might help us better understand how the immigrant education case, Plyler v. Doe, is a true heir to the legacy of Brown and its promise of integrative egalitarianism – that society should invest in the education of all, noncitizens included.
The 9/11 Effect and its Legacy on U.S. Immigration Laws: Essays, Remarks, and Photographs
16 September 2011
University of Pennsylvania

Penn State Law Immigrants' Rights Clinic;Penn State School of International Affairs

An anthology of 9/11 reflections released today by the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights and the Penn State School of International Affairs concentrates on the impact of the attacks on the lives of immigrants and immigration policy, providing both a report card and ideas for the future.
Response, the Obama Administration, In Defense of DACA, Deferred Action, and the DREAM Act
01 January 2012
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

This essay responds to “The Obama Administration, the DREAM Act and the Take Care Clause” by Robert J. Delahunty and John C. Yoo. Though I credit Yoo and Delahunty for considering the relationship between the DACA program and the President’s duties under the “Take Care” clause, they miss the mark in at least three ways: 1) Contrary to ignoring immigration enforcement, the Obama Administration has executed the immigration laws faithfully and forcefully; 2) Far from being a new policy that undercuts statutory law, prosecutorial discretion actions like DACA have been pursued by other presidents, and part of the immigration system for at least 35 years; 3) Despite the unsurprising fact that some people who could qualify for the congressionally-created DREAM Act possess the kinds of equities that make them attractive for a prosecutorial discretion program like DACA, it is simply inaccurate to equate the limbo status offered with a grant under DACA to the secure status that attaches to those eligible under the congressional solution known as the DREAM Act. These three points are analyzed in greater detail in this essay. While the DACA program “feels” like something more or greater in scope than previous acts of prosecutorial discretion, the authority being exercised by the agency is no greater or different. It is dangerous to argue that the potential size of the class that stands to benefit from DACA or the greater transparency somehow makes the DACA program legally unsound or different. Conceivably, a future Administration could place a cap on the number of applications that can be approved under DACA but this is a policy question, not a constitutional one.
Sharing Secrets: Examining Deferred Action and Transparancy in Immigration Law
01 January 2012
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

This Article is about deferred action and transparency in related immigration cases falling under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While scholars from other genres have written extensively on the topic of prosecutorial discretion, the subject is largely absent from immigration scholarship, with the exception of early research conducted by Leon Wildes in the late 1970s and early 2000s, and a law review article I published in 2010 outlining the origins of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law and related lessons that can be drawn from administrative law and criminal law. That article ends with specific recommendations for the agency that include both codifying deferred action into a regulation and recognizing it as a formal benefit as opposed to a matter of “administrative convenience,” streamlining the array of existing memoranda of prosecutorial discretion floating within each DHS agency, and increasing oversight of prosecutorial discretion to ensure that officers and agencies that fail to exercise prosecutorial discretion by targeting and enforcing the laws against low-priority individuals are held accountable. In this Article, and building upon recommendations published in The Role of Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Law, I describe the state of prosecutorial discretion and deferred action in particular by surveying the political climate, public reaction, and advocacy efforts in the last two years. I also chronicle my repeated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to DHS for information about deferred action, and the stumbling blocks I encountered during this 19-month journey. The Article will show that while deferred action is one of the very few discretionary remedies available for noncitizens with compelling equities, it currently operates as a secret program accessible only to elite lawyers and advocates. Moreover, the secrecy of the program has created the (mis)perception by some that deferred action can be used as a tool to legalize the undocumented immigrant population or ignore congressional will. This article explains why transparency about deferred action is important and makes related recommendations that include, but are not limited to, subjecting the program to rulemaking under the Administrative Procedures Act, issuing written decisions when deferred action is denied, posting information about the application process, and maintaining statistics about deferred action decisions. Without these remedies, noncitizens that possess similarly relevant equities will face unequal hardships. Background: The Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet-level agency with jurisdiction over many immigration functions. The Department has jurisdiction over immigration “services” such as asylum, citizenship, and green card applications; border-related enforcement actions such as border patrol and inspections; and interior enforcement activities, such as the detention and removal of noncitizens. The immigration court system is called the Executive Office for Immigration Review and rests within the Department of Justice. Removal proceedings are initiated by DHS and operate as adversarial hearings at which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorneys represent the DHS. On the other hand, noncitizens are entitled to find their own lawyers at no expense to the government. Many noncitizens in removal proceedings are unrepresented because the proceeding itself is considered “civil” and without guaranteed safeguards like court-appointed counsel. At a removal proceeding, an Immigration Judge reviews allegations and charges with the noncitizen defendant, enters pleas, and if appropriate presides over applications for relief from removal such as asylum, adjustment of status, and cancellation of removal. The noncitizen bears the burden of proving that she is eligible for such relief. Decisions by the Immigration Judge may be appealed with the Board of Immigration Appeals. Not every noncitizen residing or entering the United States without legal authority is placed in removal proceedings. Some are removed expeditiously by the Department through other means, while others are considered for prosecutorial discretion. A favorable exercise of “prosecutorial discretion” identifies the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to not assert the full scope of the agency’s enforcement authority in each and every case. The Department’s motivations for exercising prosecutorial discretion are largely economic and humanitarian. According to the agency’s own statistics, ICE has the resources to remove less than 4% of the total undocumented population. Moreover, many individuals and groups who present redeeming qualities such as lengthy residence, employment or family ties in the U.S., and/or intellectual, military, or professional promise are living in the U.S. vulnerable to immigration enforcement and without a statutory vehicle for legal status. In the first two years of the Obama Administration, such humanitarian cases have swelled in the wake of congressional stalemates over even discrete immigration reforms. At one time prosecutorial discretion was called “nonpriority” and later “deferred action,” but today, prosecutorial discretion is associated with many different actions by the government. For example, a DHS officer can exercise favorable discretion by granting a temporary stay of removal, joining in a motion to terminate removal proceedings, granting an order of supervision, cancelling a Notice to Appear, or granting deferred action. Prosecutorial discretion can also be exercised during different points in the enforcement process, including, but not limited to, interrogation, arrest, charging, detention, trial, and removal.
The “Ensuing Loss” Clause in Insurance Policies: The Forgotten and Misunderstood Antidote to Anti-Concurrent Causation Exclusions
01 January 2012
University of Pennsylvania

French, Chris

As a result of the 1906 earthquake and fire in San Francisco which destroyed the city, a clause known as the “ensuing loss” clause was created to address concurrent causation situations in which a loss follows both a covered peril and an excluded peril. Ensuing loss clauses appear in the exclusions section of such policies and in essence they provide that coverage for a loss caused by an excluded peril is nonetheless covered if the loss “ensues” from a covered peril. Today, ensuing loss clauses are found in “all risk” property and homeowners policies, which cover all losses except for losses caused by perils that are expressly excluded. A century after its creation, the clause often has been overlooked in cases in which it may have been applicable, and when it has been considered, it has confused and divided the courts. The courts’ inconsistent interpretation and application of the clause creates inefficiencies in the legal system because it is harder to settle cases that have: (1) unpredictable outcomes and (2) factual disputes regarding causation that must be resolved by juries at trial instead of judges as a matter of law. Thus, the parties and courts unnecessarily spend more time and resources on such cases. This Article claims: (1) the ensuing loss clause overrides anti-concurrent causation exclusions and (2) the courts’ confusion in interpreting and applying the clause has arisen due to the courts’ misunderstanding of the origins and purpose of the clause and their mistaken incorporation of theoretical tort causation concepts such as “efficient proximate cause” into the clause instead of applying the contractual rules of policy interpretation to the clause. The Article then proposes an interpretation of the clause that should lead to more predictable, consistent outcomes and the efficient resolution of claims.
Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves: What Europe's Romanies Can Teach the United States about Crime-Motivated Immigration Reform
23 April 2012
University of Pennsylvania

Sievers, Allie

This comment proposes that the United States could learn a great deal about the dangers of extreme immigration policy-making by looking to the European states and their dealings with the Romani, specifically the French expulsions of the Romani in 2010. Through this lens, this comment analyzes flaws in the U.S.’ crime-motivated immigration enforcement programs, and argues that the U.S. needs to move quickly to remedy flaws in immigration enforcement before it repeats many of the mistakes that led to the current condition of Europe’s Romanies and creates its own class of un-integrated ethnic minorities.
Loving v. Virginia in a Post-Racial World: Rethinking Race, Sex, and Marriage
01 June 2012
University of Pennsylvania

Maillard, Kevin Noble;Villazor, Rose Cuison;Romero, Victor C.

Victor Romero is a contributing author: "Loving Across the Miles: Binational Same-Sex Marriages" pages 217-234. In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that laws prohibiting interracial marriage were unconstitutional in Loving vs. Virginia. Although this case promotes marital freedom and racial equality, there are still significant legal and social barriers to the free formation of intimate relationships. Marriage continues to be the sole measure of commitment, mixed relationships continue to be rare, and same-sex marriage is only legal in 6 out of 50 states. Most discussion of Loving celebrates the symbolic dismantling of marital discrimination. This book, however, takes a more critical approach to ask how Loving has influenced the “loving” of America. How far have we come since then, and what effect did the case have on individual lives? - From the Publisher
The NSEERS Effect: A Decade of Racial Profiling, Fear, and Secrecy
04 June 2012
University of Pennsylvania

Penn State Law Immigrants' Rights Clinic;Rights Working Group

n the wake of the tragic attacks of September 11, 2011, the landscape of immigration law and policy in the United States changed dramatically as the government scrambled to create counterterrorism programs to respond to potential national security threats. One program is the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) or "special registration" that was initiated by the Department of Justice in 2002 and inherited by the Department of Homeland Security in 2003. NSEERS served as a tool that allowed the government to systematically target Arabs, Middle Easterners, Muslims, and South Asians from designated countries for advanced scrutiny. ...The purpose of this report is to analyze the impact of NSEERS in its current form and make recommendations for meaningful reform.
Our Illegal Founders
01 January 2013
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

This Essay briefly mines America’s history to argue that the law setting forth where our national borders are and how strictly we patrol them has always been subject to the vagaries of politics, economics, and perception. Illegal (im)migration has long been part of our migration history, engaged in not just by Latin American border crossers, but also by prominent colonists, giving the lie to the claim that upholding border laws should always be sacrosanct. In many school districts today, the usual summary of American history from our childhood civics classes no longer bypasses the uncomfortable truths of conquest and westward expansion by Anglo-Protestant settlers to the detriment of Native Americans and Mexicans. However, not often is this story described as a parable of illegal immigration.
Reading (into) Windsor: Presidential Leadership, Marriage Equality, and Immigration Policy
01 January 2013
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Following the demise of the federal Defense of Marriage Act in United States v. Windsor, the Obama Administration directed a bold, equality-based reading of Windsor to immigration law, treating bi-national same-sex couples the same as opposite-sex couples. This Essay argues that the President's interpretation is both constitutionally and politically sound: Constitutionally, because it comports with the Executive's power to enforce immigration law and to guarantee equal protection under the law; and politically, because it reflects the current, increasingly tolerant view of marriage equality. Though still in its infancy, President Obama's policy of treating same-sex beneficiary petitions generally the same as opposite-sex ones is a model of presidential leadership on what would otherwise be a controversial issue. While some might be concerned that the executive branch is overstepping its bounds by creating a de facto national immigration policy in the absence of specific congressional fiat and in the midst of a robust national debate over marriage equality, President Obama's directive embraces the promise of integrative egalitarianism, the hallmark of our post-Brown equality jurisprudence, by setting forth an inclusive, uniform federal policy that enhances, rather than diminishes, equality for all.
Ethnic Conflict: An Organizational Perspective
19 April 2013
University of Pennsylvania

Asal, Victor;Wilkenfeld, Jonathan

To talk about the behavior of others is to generalize especially if that behavior is perceived to be negative. As researchers who have studied ethnic discrimination and ethnic conflict for close to two decades, we have noticed, anecdotally at least, that this penchant for generalization is rampant in discussions of ethnic politics. Journalists and academics tend to talk about one or another ethnic group’s involvement in violence without specifying a political organizational agent. This kind of generalization is a serious obstacle to understanding conflicts and identifying solutions because it prevents policymakers and academics from getting at the messy reality of ethnic politics—especially when they become contentious or violent. This article explores how organizations often change their policies and shift back and forth between violent and nonviolent strategies, occasionally adopting both at the same time. In the process, this article provides a counter-balance to generally accepted wisdom concerning the relationship between ethnicity and conflict.
The Case of Christmas Island: How International Law Affects the Australian-Malaysian Refugee Deal
15 November 2013
University of Pennsylvania

Pereira, Ria

In July 2011, Australia and Malaysia entered into an arrangement in which Australian asylum seekers would be removed to neighboring Malaysia to have their asylum claims processed. Following widespread criticism in the media, Australia’s High Court ruled that such a deal violated Australia’s refuges protection laws. While this ruling should have put an end to the deal, Australia’s Immigration Minister indicated that the agreement might nevertheless be feasible. Policy makers proposed amending Australian domestic immigration laws to allow the deal to go forward unencumbered. A bill to amend Australia’s Migration Act was subsequently introduced. As it currently stands, Australian law and international obligations are in agreement: the Malaysian deal would be improper. However, officials within the Australian government propose disrupting this synchronicity by amending the country’s internal laws. This comment addresses the interplay between Australia’s internal laws and its international obligations and proposes that an amendment to Australia’s Migration Act would not serve as panacea to such a proposed deal. While amending the Migration Act has the effect of overturning the discrete High Court ruling declaring the Malaysian deal improper, Australian courts have intimated that the country’s international obligations branch much further and are not so easily set aside.
The Rise of Speed Deportation and the Role of Discretion
01 January 2014
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

In 2013, the majority of people deported never saw a courtroom or immigration judge. Instead, they were quickly removed by the Department of Homeland Security via one of several procedures collectively referred to as “speed deportation.” The policy goals of speed deportation are economic; these processes save government resources from being spent on procedural safeguards such as a trial attorney, immigration judge, and a fundamentally fair hearing. Higher deportation numbers may also benefit the image the government seeks to portray to policymakers who support amplified immigration enforcement. However, the human consequences of speed deportation are significant and can result in the ejection of people who would otherwise qualify for relief before an immigration judge or otherwise present strong equities like family ties, long-term residence, and steady employment in the United States. Moreover, the risk that the government may wrongly classify a person as a candidate for speed deportation is more than a remote possibility. This Article examines deportations resulting from the expedited removal, administrative removal, and reinstatement of removal orders programs and the extent to which the government has discretion to give individuals who present compelling equities, including eligibility for relief, a more complete court proceeding before an immigration judge. This Article ends with recommendations the Department of Homeland Security can take to provide a "day in court" for such individuals.
A Meditation on Moncrieffe: On Marijuana, Misdemeanants, and Migration
01 January 2014
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

This essay is a brief meditation on the immigration schizophrenia in our law and legal culture through the lens of the Supreme Court’s latest statement on immigration and crime, Moncrieffe v. Holder. While hailed as a “common sense” decision, Moncrieffe is a rather narrow ruling that does little to change the law regarding aggravated felonies or the ways in which class and citizenship play into the enforcement of minor drug crimes and their deportation consequences. Despite broad agreement on the Court, the Moncrieffe opinion still leaves the discretion to deport minor state drug offenders in the hands of the federal immigration bureaucracy. However, if the current debate among the states regarding the legitimate uses of marijuana helps lead immigration authorities to refocus their efforts on deporting serious criminals only, then immigrant advocates may come to view Moncrieffe in a much more favorable light.
Immigration Remarks for the 10th Annual Wiley A. Branton Symposium
01 January 2014
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

This morning (despite the pressure that our panel comes right before lunch), I am going to provide a “101” on the role of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law, which is my primary area of research and fundamental to understanding how the immigration system operates. Prosecutorial discretion is a largely invisible tool that enables thousands, if not millions, of unauthorized noncitizens to reside in the United States without fear from deportation. It may be characterized as invisible because prosecutorial discretion decisions are largely connected to no action at all or as some call it, nonenforcement. A favorable exercise of “prosecutorial discretion” refers to a decision by a Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, employee to abstain from enforcing the immigration laws against a person or group. A grant of immigration prosecutorial discretion does not amount to a formal legal status but rather functions as a tenuous one. There are two or maybe three theories that lie beneath prosecutorial discretion in immigration law. One theory is economic. The agency has limited resources and deporting ten million people is not cost-effective (the agency has the resources to deport less than four percent or 400,000 of the total removable population). Therefore, the agency should target its resources toward its highest priorities such as those who present a risk to national security or a danger to the community. The second theory is humanitarian. There are scores of individuals — young people pursuing higher education, spouses of U.S. military members, single mothers acting as primary breadwinners and caregivers, and migrant workers who left their families to build a life for themselves — who are contributing to the U.S. in meaningful ways and therefore, should be protected from deportation. There is a possible third theory that I might characterize as more political in nature that occurs when the agency chooses to exercise executive power in the wake of congressional inaction or action.
Demystifying Employment Authorization and Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Cases
01 January 2015
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

On November 20, 2014, President Barack Obama announced a series of immigration programs aimed to reform the immigration system. Deferred Action for Parents of Americans or Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) and extended Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) represent two such programs announced by the President. Both programs extend deferred action (one form of prosecutorial discretion) to qualifying individuals. Deferred action has been part of the immigration system for more than 50 years, and has been named explicitly by Congress, federal courts, and the agencies responsible for administering immigration laws. Additionally, regulations list deferred action as one basis for work authorization. The President’s deferred action programs offered room for a healthy debate about immigration law and policy. The debate was intensified by a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas and 25 other states challenging the deferred action programs, and a subsequent judicial opinion enjoining these programs. Much of the tension has centered on the ability for a deferred action grantee to obtain ancillary benefits like employment authorization or lawful presence. This conflict has enabled great distortion about the limits and benefits of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law. In this Article, I seek to clarify the relationship between prosecutorial discretion and employment authorization and describe the historical precedent for allowing qualifying noncitizens to apply for work authorization based on a prosecutorial discretion grant. I also examine the policy questions that are raised by the current legal framework and policy for work authorization. My methodology for this Article is to review the primary and secondary sources of law for prosecutorial discretion and work authorization; analyze a related data set of more than 200,000 work authorization applications processed by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services retrieved through the Freedom of Information Act; and begin a policy discussion on the benefits of enabling prosecutorial discretion beneficiaries to be authorized to work in the United States. This Article is the first to analyze the law and policy of work authorization and prosecutorial discretion and builds naturally from my body of work developed on the role of immigration prosecutorial discretion generally, and deferred action in particular.
Elusive Equality: Reflections on Justice Field’s Opinions in Chae Chan Ping and Fong Yue Ting
01 January 2015
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

For immigration scholars, Justice Field is perhaps best remembered for his majority opinion in Chae Chan Ping v. United States, the Supreme Court’s decision upholding Chinese exclusion, and credited for introducing the plenary power doctrine to immigration law. Yet, despite the opinion’s xenophobic rhetoric reflecting his personal views of the Chinese, Justice Field dissented in Fong Yue Ting v. United States, reasoning that, once they became lawful residents, the Chinese were entitled to be treated as equals under the law regardless of citizenship, a position supported by his earlier federal circuit court opinion in Ho Ah Kow v. Nunan. Regardless of one’s particular views of his opinions in these cases, it appears Field sought to balance his unfavorable personal and political views about mass Chinese immigration against his duty as a federal judge to uphold the constitutional rights of individual persons within the United States, regardless of their race and citizenship, before Congress’s plenary power. This tension between viewing immigrants as an undifferentiated mass and recognizing each immigrant as a person worthy of constitutional protection pervades contemporary debates regarding immigration today. Further, research in social psychology suggests that, within immigration policy, seldom will personhood trump membership as an organizing principle when benefiting noncitizen outsiders is perceived to come at the expense of U.S. citizen insiders. Put another way, immigration law presumes differences among citizens and noncitizens and creates others among noncitizens; thus, while it is already difficult to extend the circle of empathy beyond family and friends to strangers, it is particularly difficult to do so within a field like immigration law, which is designed to maintain boundaries between citizen and “alien.” Nonetheless, recognizing and working within these constraints, immigrant rights advocates would do well to emphasize and guard against our inherent parochialism, as Field appeared to do in Fong notwithstanding his opinion in Chae.
A Strategic Legal Challenge to the Unforeseen Anticompetitive and Racially Discriminatory Effects of Baseball’s North American Draft
01 January 2015
University of Pennsylvania

Ross, Stephen F.;James, Michael, Jr.

Major League Baseball (MLB) has honored a single player by retiring his number for every club. Absent special commemorations, no player will wear the number “42” in honor of the man who broke the color barrier to become the first African American to play major league baseball in the modern era: Jackie Robinson. MLB has also honored a single player—chosen from nominees from each individual club—by presenting an annual award for humanitarian service in his name; that honoree is Roberto Clemente. However, the sad reality is that if a fifteen-year-old Jackie Robinson were growing up today in South Pasadena, California, or if a fifteen-year-old Roberto Clemente were growing up today in Carolina, Puerto Rico, there is little chance that either would ever become a professional baseball player.
The Prodigal Illegal: Christian Love and Immigration Reform
01 January 2015
University of Pennsylvania

Romero, Victor C.

Despite the impasse around immigration reform, most everyone believes the United States’ immigration system is broken. And most agree that the key issue is what to do with the eleven million or so undocumented persons currently residing in the United States. As a Christian immigration law teacher, I have been interested in the debate among the churches as to what such reform should look like. In this Article, I use Professor Jeffrie Murphy’s conception of agapic love as a lens through which to examine reform proposals. I then evaluate the two positions Christian churches have seemed to embrace—permanent legal status on the one hand, full citizenship on the other—from both a gospel and legal perspective. To aid my analysis from the Christian perspective, I turn to Dr. Timothy Keller’s interpretation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son; from the legal perspective, I examine the lived experiences of those subject to our current deportation laws. I argue that a thick conception of agapic, neighborly love requires embracing a pathway to citizenship as the only available reform option. This Article explores what agapic love might look like in the context of formulating immigration policy regarding the undocumented. Despite what appear to be the strict borders of law that create categories of immigrant status and belonging, the Christian tradition of sacrificial love suggests a willingness to promote equality and reject ubordination— in a sense, to set captives free.
Beyond Deportation: The Role of Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Cases
01 June 2015
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

When Beatles star John Lennon faced deportation from the U.S. in the 1970s, his lawyer Leon Wildes made a groundbreaking argument. He argued that Lennon should be granted "nonpriority" status pursuant to INS's (now DHS's_ policy of prosecutorial discretion. In U.S. immigration law, the agency exercises prosecutorial discretion favorably when it refrains from enforcing the full scope of immigration law. A prosecutorial discretion grant is important to an agency seeking to focus on its priorities on the "truly dangerous" in order to conserve resources and to bring compassion into immigration enforcement. The Lennon case marked the first moment that the immigration agency's prosecutorial discretion policy became public knowledge. Today, the concept of prosecutorial discretion is more widely known in light of the Obama Administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program, a record number of deportations and a stalemate in Congress to move immigration reform. Beyond Deportation is the first book to comprehensively describe the history, theory, and application of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law. It provides a rich history of the role of prosecutorial discretion in the immigration system and unveils the powerful role it plays in protecting individuals from deportation and saving the government resources. - From the Publisher
Is Immigration Law National Security Law?
01 January 2016
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

The debate around how to keep America safe and welcome newcomers is prominent. In the last year, cities and countries around the world, including Baghdad, Dhaka, Istanbul, Paris, Beirut, Mali and inside the United States - have been vulnerable to terrorist attacks and human tragedy. Meanwhile, the world faces the largest refugee crises since the Second World War. This article is based on remarks delivered at Emory Law Journal’s annual Thrower Symposium on February 11, 2016. It explores how national security concerns have shaped recent immigration policy in the Executive Branch, Congress and the states and the moral, legal and practical implications of these proposals. Finally, this article examines the parallels between these proposals and immigration policies enacted after September 11, 2001.
Practitioner's Toolkit on Cancellation of Removal for Lawful Permanent Residents
16 May 2016
University of Pennsylvania

Penn State Law Immigrants' Rights Clinic;Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center

Created on behalf of the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC), the toolkit is a resource for immigration attorneys representing lawful permanent residents who are facing removal from the United States.
Compassionate Migration and Regional Policy in the Americas
01 January 2017
University of Pennsylvania

Bender, Steven W.;Arrocha, William F.;Romero, Victor C.

Victor Romero contributed the chapter "The Power of Exclusion: Congress, Courts, and the Plenary Power" pages 21-32. From the publisher: This book explores the contested notion of compassionate migration in its discourse and practice. In the context of today's migration patterns within the Americas, compassionate migration can play a fundamental role in responding to the hardships that many migrants suffer before, during, and after their journeys. This volume explores the boundaries of compassion from legal, political, philosophical, and interdisciplinary perspectives, and supplies examples where state and non-state actors engage in practices of compassion and humanity through formal and informal regimes. Despite the lack of a concise and precise definition of the concept and practice of compassionate migration, all authors in this volume agree on the pressing need for more humane and compassionate treatment for those leaving their home country behind in search of a better life.
Information Session on President Trump's Executive Orders on Immigration
03 February 2017
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba S

On February 3, the Center for Immigrants' Rights Clinic and the Borough of State College presented a community information session covering the president's executive orders relating to immigration enforcement, refugees, and Muslim immigration.
Amended Order Confirming Joint Plan of Reorganization
01 January 2018
University of Pennsylvania

nan

Amended order confirming joint plan of reorganization filed on April 6, 2018.
Improving Tax Rules by Means-Testing: Bridging Wealth Inequality and "Ability to Pay"
01 January 2018
University of Pennsylvania

Puckett, James M

The federal income tax can and should do more to address wealth disparities and income inequality. The income tax does not directly count wealth, and the realization rule and basis "step-up" at death exclude substantial amounts of income for the wealthy. The Constitution limits Congress's ability to tax wealth. Despite these serious challenges, this Article considers how to potentially bridge the gap between wealth and the income tax. For example, asset-based phase-outs in the income tax should pass muster without apportionment, although their bite would necessarily be limited. The Article posits that the public would be more receptive to phase-outs than more progressive tax brackets. Relevant to complexity, the existing literature has identified potential mark-to-market solutions to correct the exclusion of unrealized gains. The design of asset-based phase-outs would be prefigured to some extent by whether these proposals gain traction. The income tax, to be sure, cannot by itself solve the problem of wealth inequality. Principles of tax justice, however, arguably require greater attention to wealth in measuring the taxpayer's "ability to pay."
National Security, Immigration and the Muslim Bans
01 January 2018
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba

National security language has continued to guide the creation and defense of Executive Orders and related immigration policies issued in the Donald J. Trump administration. This Article builds on earlier scholarship examining the relationship between national security and immigration in the wake of September 11, 2001, under the Obama administration, and during the campaign leading to the 2016 Election. While the Article is largely descriptive, it ultimately questions the longevity of using national security to create and defend immigration law. This Article is limited in scope -- it does not provide a deep dive into the constitutionality of the Muslim bans, nor does it analyze the literature about the future of plenary power. There is a large body of scholarship and a treasure trove of litigation to address both questions.Part II of this Article describes the first three Muslim bans the Executive Branch issued starting in January 2017. Part III explains the legal challenges to those bans brought in federal district and appellate courts around the country, and the government's reliance on national security language to justify the bans. Part IV describes the human impact of the Muslim bans and some responses outside of the courtroom by organizations who represented the community and by the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants' Rights Clinic (CIRC). I launched the CIRC in 2008 which over the last decade has been engaged in providing legal support in individual immigration cases, community outreach and education and policy products for organizational clients.For more than two centuries, national security has been used to justify immigration laws that exclude people based on race and related factors. Even in cases where the courts or a future administration have struck down these laws or found no connection between matters of national security and the basis for exclusion, there has been little to no government accountability. As I reflect on the profound human impact, prolonged courtroom sessions and resistance to the Muslim bans, my hope is that the government is held accountable with restitution to those impacted and a stronger country.
LGBTQ Athletes and Discrimination in Sport
01 January 2018
University of Pennsylvania

Mattson, Rebecca

The scholarship regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in sports is twofold. First, many articles address the discrimination that LGBT athletes face in sports, particularly intercollegiate and professional. Second, the scholarship addresses a growing movement to allow transgender children to play sports with the gender that they identify with, not the gender that is on their birth certificate. Athletes have faced discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation in many ways. Some intercollegiate athletes have been effectively forced off of the team for their sexuality. While this raises a Title IX flag, religions institutions are able to receive an exemption under Title IX. In the professional world of sports, few athletes are openly homosexual; most remain closeted until retirement. The professional sports arena has traditionally been hostile to LGBTQ athletes with some players stating that they would be uncomfortable sharing a locker room with a gay teammate. The scholarship seems to indicate, however, that there is growing acceptance of LGBT athletes. More recent scholarship has focused on the issue of transgender students seeking to play sports. Athletes seek to play alongside teammates who share the same gender identity, even if that is not the same-sex category. Critics allege that players of a different sex will give a competitive advantage This is a growing movement, and scholars argue against the critics and instead that inclusive policies that allow transgender children to play as the gender they identify with is the appropriate resolution, and it will have the most benefit not only for the child, but also for the team and the community.
Hate Crimes Against LGBTQ Communities and Persons
01 January 2018
University of Pennsylvania

Mattson, Rebecca A

This section focuses on scholarship surrounding hate crimes—in particular hate crimes relating to LGBTQ communities. The scholarship spans the last decade, a decade that has seen significant progress. As such, early articles discuss marriage equality and suggest that hate crimes would significantly decrease if marriage equality passed at a federal level. Other articles focus on the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, Pub. L. No. 101-275, 28 U.S.C. § 534, and suggest that Congress should enact more, better antihate crime legislation that includes sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes. After the passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, Pub. L. No. 111-84, 18 U.S.C. § 249, 1389; 42 U.S.C. § 3716, 3716a, scholars focus on the Act’s deficiencies and the need for consistent and strong state laws prohibiting hate crimes. Still other scholars discuss the intersection of communities of color and LGBTQ communities in common oppression and as victims of hate crimes. As evidenced by the Pulse nightclub massacre in 2016, Latinx and LGBTQ communities intersected as victims of a common attack. At least one article discusses the complexities of such an intersection and why the threads of oppression cannot be untangled.
Immigration Litigation in the Time of Trump
01 January 2019
University of Pennsylvania

Wadhia, Shoba

A number of immigration policies have been announced, implemented, or challenged in courts during the first half of Donald J. Trump's presidency. This Essay provides an update on ongoing litigation on a handful of these policies and was inspired by keynote remarks delivered at the Emerging Immigration Scholars Conference at Brigham Young University in June 2019. The topics covered by this Essay include: litigation affecting those covered by the travel or "Muslim Ban," asylum policy changes, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ("DACA"), unlawful presence rules, and the border wall. This Essay also discusses lessons and common themes emerging from the litigation brought in the first half of the Trump administration, including the nature of the legal claims, the limitations of litigation, and the human costs of the policies despite these issues.

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